Chương 10
Elena stared at him.
“How often?”
“Apparently for several weeks.”
Rosa muttered something under her breath.
Marcus continued.
“She would mark times when you picked him up, how long you held him, whether he stopped crying.”
Elena’s skin prickled.
“That is not normal.”
“No.”
“Where are the recordings?”
“On her phone and in the camera account.”
“Did she send them to anyone?”
Marcus hesitated.
Elena saw it.
“To who?”
“Her mother.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Rosa said, “Of course.”
Elena opened them again.
“What did her mother say?”
Marcus looked uncomfortable.
“I haven’t seen the messages.”
“You just said it concerns me.”
“It does.”
“Then tell me what you know.”
Marcus nodded.
“Victoria said her mother started making comments about you after seeing the clips.”
“What comments?”
“That you were overstepping.”
Elena laughed once, sharp and disbelieving.
“I was doing my job.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Marcus’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
“Because apparently nobody decided what my job is until today.”
“Elena.”
“No.”
She kept her voice low so she would not wake Leo.
“I clean rooms, I organize laundry, I cover meals when Rosa needs help, I pick up prescriptions, I stay late when the nanny calls out, I carry your child when he cries because someone has to.”
Marcus looked down.
“And now I find out your wife has been documenting it like evidence.”
“I know.”
“No, you just learned.”
He flinched.
She regretted the cruelty immediately.
Not enough to take it back.
Rosa moved closer.
“Elena.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you are angry.”
“I’m allowed.”
“Yes.”
That one word loosened something in Elena’s chest.
Marcus stood.
“I’ll make sure the clips are deleted.”
Elena looked at him.
“No.”
He stopped.
“No?”
“I want them preserved.”
Marcus stared at her.
Rosa’s eyebrows lifted.
Elena felt suddenly clear.
“If I report what happened today, I don’t want anything disappearing.”
Marcus nodded slowly.
“You’re right.”
“I also want the camera account locked so no one can delete anything.”
“I can do that.”
“Not you.”
His expression changed.
Elena held his gaze.
“You’re her husband.”
“I’m also your employer.”
“Exactly.”
Marcus said nothing.
Rosa looked between them.
Elena continued.
“I want someone outside the family to handle it.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Marcus thought for a moment.
“Our attorney.”
Elena gave him a flat look.
“Your attorney is not outside the family.”
“Fair.”
Rosa nodded approvingly.
Marcus rubbed his jaw.
“Then a neutral third party.”
“I want whatever is legal and documented.”
He nodded.
“Okay.”
Elena shifted Leo carefully.
“And I want copies of anything that includes me.”
Marcus looked toward the shelf.
“I think that’s reasonable.”
“I don’t need you to think it’s reasonable.”
He stopped.
Then nodded again.
“You’re right.”
Rosa sat back down.
“I like this version of everyone better.”
Elena looked at her.
“What version?”
“The one where people stop pretending money makes them correct.”
Marcus gave a tired smile.
“Noted.”
A soft knock came at the nursery door.
Victoria stood there.
She had changed out of her charcoal jacket completely now and rolled the sleeves of her dark blouse to her forearms.
Her face was bare.
She looked at Marcus first.
Then Elena.
Then the face-down camera.
“I told him.”
Marcus nodded.
Victoria stepped into the room.
“I also spoke to Dr. Halpern.”
Elena waited.
Victoria clasped her hands together.
“He wants me to come in this afternoon.”
Marcus’s shoulders relaxed slightly.
Victoria noticed.
“Don’t look relieved.”
“I’m trying not to look like anything.”
“You’re bad at that.”
Rosa gave Elena a tiny sideways glance.
There it was again.
The marriage beneath the wreckage.
Victoria looked at Elena.
“Marcus told you about the clips.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
Elena said nothing.
“I thought I was documenting a problem.”
“What problem?”
Victoria looked at Leo.
“That he preferred you.”
“He’s seven months old.”
“I know.”
“Preference is not betrayal.”
Victoria swallowed.
“I know that now.”
Elena shifted in the rocking chair.
“No.”
Victoria frowned.
“What?”
“You know you behaved badly.”
Elena kept her voice quiet.
“I don’t think you know why yet.”
Marcus looked at her.
Victoria stared.
Then, slowly, she nodded.
“That’s probably true.”
Elena had expected another argument.
The agreement disarmed her.
Victoria took one more step inside.
“I won’t delete anything.”
“Good.”
“I’ll give you access to the files.”
“Through someone neutral.”
Victoria glanced at Marcus.
He nodded.
“All right.”
She looked back at Elena.
“And if you want to report me, I won’t interfere.”
The room went silent.
Rosa looked carefully at Victoria.
Marcus’s face changed.
Elena studied her.
“You understand that could have consequences.”
“Yes.”
“For you.”
“Yes.”
“For Mr. Vale.”
Victoria glanced at her husband’s hand.
“Yes.”
Marcus looked away.
Elena felt the shape of the day change again.
An hour ago everyone had been defending territory.
Now they were discussing evidence.
That did not make anything safer.
It only made the consequences real.
Victoria looked at Leo.
“May I hold him before I leave?”
Elena’s body tightened automatically.
Victoria saw it.
Her face fell, but she did not argue.
“Never mind.”
Elena looked down at Leo.
He was asleep.
Completely.
She thought about the kick.
The grabbed strap.
The hot bottle.
The shaking hands.
She thought about Victoria sitting outside a psychiatrist’s office for forty minutes because fear had become heavier than the door handle.
Then she thought about how easy compassion could become permission.
“No,” Elena said.
Victoria nodded.
“I understand.”
Elena looked at her.
“But when you come back, if Dr. Halpern thinks it’s okay and you’re calm, maybe.”
Victoria’s eyes filled.
She looked away before the tears fell.
“Okay.”
Marcus watched her.
For once he did not move closer.
Victoria wiped her cheek with the heel of her hand.
“I’m going to change.”
She turned toward the door.
Then stopped.
“Elena.”
“Yes?”
“I called my mother too.”
Elena waited.
Victoria’s mouth tightened.
“I told her never to contact you, discuss you, or use any recording of you again.”
Rosa sat straighter.
May you like
Victoria continued.
“And I told her the cameras were my decision.”
